What Is The Byzantine-Sassanian War?

The Byzantine-Sassanian War was caused by a pro-Byzantine uprising in the Caucasus under Persian hegemony, although other events contributed to its appearance. The Byzantine Empire was also severely weakened and consumed by the war, which resulted in the seizure of most of their lands by the Islamic Rashidun Caliphate.

Muslim armies quickly conquered the entire Sassanid Empire and stripped the Byzantine Empire of its territories in the Levant, the Caucasus, Egypt, and North Africa. As such, they were vulnerable to the sudden emergence of the Islamic Rushton Caliphate, whose armies invaded both empires only a few years after the war. Both the Byzantine and Sassanian empires were exhausted and weakened by long wars, which contributed to the expansion of Muslims under the Rashidun caliphate. The severe destruction of the Romans and Sassanians allowed the Arabs, emerging from geopolitical stagnation, to conquer territories from Libya to India after decades and several decisive victories, ending the Sassanid Empire and permanently destroyed the Roman Empire.


The Roman Empire suffered even more losses, its financial reserves were depleted by war, the Balkans were now mainly in the hands of the Slavs, Anatolia was devastated by the repeated invasions of the Persians, the empire had taken over Syria, Meso Potamia, Palestine and Egypt, weakened over the years. Persian occupation. The depleted Roman Empire, which had recently reconquered the southern provinces during the Arab-Byzantine Wars, also disappeared during the Muslim conquests of Syria, Egypt, and North Africa, leaving the empire consisting of Anatolia and a handful of islands and headlands. Balkan and Italian support. The depleted Byzantine Empire, which had recently reconquered Syria, Armenia, Egypt and the eastern and southern provinces of North Africa in the course of the Arab-Byzantine Wars, also lost power, reducing the empire to a territory consisting of Anatolia and a handful of states core. Islands and strongholds. in the Balkans and Italy. Also, periodic wars only drain the resources of both empires, eventually weakening them.

The last war between the two countries ended in 591 when the Mauritian emperor helped Sassanid Khosrow II retake the throne. After decades of fruitless battles, the Emperor of Mauritius ended the Byzantine-Sassanian War of 572-591, helping the exiled Sassanian prince Khosrow, the future Khosrow II, from the usurper Bahram Jobin regained the throne. Khosrow declared war, ostensibly to avenge the deposed Emperor Maurice. After ten years of peace, Khosrow II resumed hostilities between his old rivals.

Khosrow II took this opportunity to attack the Roman Empire and recapture the Roman province of Mesopotamia. In 612, a Persian army led by General Shahbalaz conquered Syria, dividing the Byzantine Empire in two. The Persian Empire was occupied and the Byzantines were driven back to Anatolia.


However, in Mesopotamia, the war began disastrously for the Byzantines. Although the Byzantines scored some victories and the Sassanids others, in the end there was no clear winner. After all, it wasn’t the Persians or the Byzantines who ended the 719-year intermittent war, but a third party.

This epic war reached its climax not during the Perso-Roman Wars, but during the Perso-Byzantine Wars. Continuing the Roman-Persian Wars, the conflict included several smaller campaigns and peace treaties that lasted for years. The Byzantine-Sassanid War (602-628) – The last and most significant of the many wars between the Byzantine and Sassanian empires was fought from 602 to 628. It is also the last conflict between them as the Sassanid Empire was completely destroyed. conquered by the Muslims shortly after the end of the war.

For most of the war, from AD 602 ​​to 622, the Sassanid dynasty prevailed, taking most of the territory from Byzantium. In this war, the Sassanid dynasty was led by Khosrow II, while the Byzantines were led first by Phocas and then by Hercules. While the Romans were the main invaders against the Parthians, the Sassanids showed their aggression against the Romans and later the Byzantines.


Maurice came to power in 582 AD. and participated in the last war with the Sassanids. Emperor Mauritius succeeded in bringing the war to an end by helping Khosrow regain the Sassanid throne.

However, the Byzantines, unlike their Persian rivals, were not completely annihilated by the Muslims, and they were both embroiled in a series of wars that continued until the 11th century. Over the next few centuries, Byzantine and Arab forces would wage a series of wars for control of the Middle East.

The Roman Empire was split in two, and later, in 395, the Byzantine era began (some say the Byzantine Empire began in 330 when the capital was moved from Rome to Byzantium). However, the division of the Roman Empire brought difficulties, as the Sassanid kings recognized only one equal sovereignty in the West. Therefore, they went on to call the emperor of Constantinople Caesar. Just as in Byzantine official documents the term basileus was restricted to Sassanid kings, in Persian diplomatic documents the Latin title Caesar was applied only to Roman emperors.


The ancient enemies of the empire, the Avars and Slavs decided to take advantage of the situation and poured across the northern border, raiding Byzantine lands. The Sassanids were a more aggressive enemy than their Parthian predecessors, and as a result the Romans faced a more dangerous eastern adversary at a time when the Roman Empire was weakening due to the civil chaos resulting from the death of the emperor.

The Rise of the Sassanid Dynasty After Trajan’s conquest of Mesopotamia in the 2nd century, the Parthian Empire began to decline. Sassanid Empire at the beginning of the 7th century. AD due to long years of wars with the Byzantine Empire (603-626 AD) and its subsequent defeat, it lost its military and defensive power and experienced a political crisis. Parvez vexed the former Byzantine provinces (which later left nothing to stop the Arabs from invading both empires), and for the first time in years, one side managed to keep the territory of the other.

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